As an introvert, Worlds 2016 left me utterly drained of energy and exhausted but in the happiest way possible. It’s been hard to find time to post with life, friends, commitments and other projects so I apologize that my Worlds posts will be rather late.

In the meantime, enjoy these shots I got after the Men’s medal ceremony where Yuzuru was struggling a lot while holding flowers and the flag. When the press photos were done, he decided to put the flowers down and fold up the flag. It was kind of adorable. Enjoy!

I am currently still feeling the after-effects of an exhausting but wonderful weekend (crowds and excitement are super draining for an introvert) and a really delayed flight back home. Still, I thought I’d share some random musings about Worlds before I get into the posts on each specific competition.

The crowd and people were so lovely. At almost every event I attended, I managed to strike up a conversation with the people sitting beside me. It was so nice to be among fans.

My predictions are all over the place but for 3 out of 4 of the competitions, it seems that the podium is composed of 1 team/skater who clearly did better than the rest for gold, my personal favourite for silver and a complete surprise for bronze. The only exception is the ladies event, partly because almost everyone skated really well that evening and partly because Ashley isn’t a personal favourite but whatever.

The ladies long program was an evening of great skating. I feel so lucky to have been there.

Despite some of my favourites (sentimental and otherwise) being off the podium, I am anticipating some great Grand Prix rosters. I am seriously considering attending Skate Canada this fall.

Watching programs live gives you a very different sense of a skater’s ability both technically and as a performer. I have been to Skate Canada long ago but with higher stakes and a field of tough competitors throughout, you can really see some of the key differences in ability when you watch the events live.

The Kween and I occupied the same building at some point. Keep breathing…

I have a lot of cheesy music stuck in my head now. I’m pretty sure Celine Dion has been stuck in my head for the last 6 hours.

Yuzuru fans are really, really, really, really, really intense. Some of them were parked in front of the small medals podium right before pairs with small blankets as if they were on hanami (flower-viewing, usually associated with cherry blossoms – people reserve spots very much in advance by laying down a large blanket and the parks become super crowded). They got kicked out since the arena gets cleared for each new competition but when I left after the pairs LP, people were already lined up at the metal detectors waiting to get into the ladies competition, which was going to start in more than an hour. They were all Asians and likely fans of Yuzuru. I ended up squished against a pillar for the men’s LP small medals.

I still love Boston as much as I did when I visited 5 years ago. Great city.

I am about to fall asleep on my laptop so I will end here. How did you enjoy Worlds 2016? At home or live? Tell me in the comments section!